The Inuzuka Defector
by Varmint
Summary: The Akatsuki threat was too big to ignore. They were much too dangerous to allow to grow. So Konoha sends one of their own to destroy it from within. One-shot!


I've got a confession to make. This idea came to me after I stumbled upon the 'crack taken seriously' in AO3. I didn't actually check it out because hurricane. But I was thinking about the tag a whole bunch... Then I decided to try my hand at it.

Please enjoy!

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 ** _The Inuzuka Defector_**

Kiba and Akamaru had not liked the idea. Neither had the rest of the Inuzuka Clan.

But the Hokage had spoken. The Inuzuka Clan had been chosen to be the Clan to bear the brunt of this mission. And one of its most trusted, most dangerous members had been given the chance to fight for their Village. The fighting would not be out in the open, it would not be the sort of mission the Inuzuka were usually sent on. No, this was a mission that required stealth, patience, and a great amount of strategy: fighting the enemy from within. Slowly poisoning their insides until there was no way to maintain their united front was what was required for its complete destruction.

Months were spent training in anticipation, preparing the chosen member for everything he would come to greet as he worked to destroy one of Konoha's greatest threats. From the Elders, from the Clan Head, from everyone that was willing to give time, he learned everything they believed he would need to know to survive. Then, from the Hokage's most trusted allies, he learned more, arts that the Inuzuka had no finesse for, techniques that were much quieter than the Inuzuka's usually loud and destructive fighting style.

When the time came to say goodbye, no Inuzuka maintained a dry eye. Sadness and grief consumed the large Clan. Even though they had known the day would come that they would lose one of their own in a way that would ensure his entry into the dangerous organization, there truly was no way to prepare for the sudden (albeit staged) betrayal they were forced to witness.

The force and brutality in which the chosen Inuzuka tore into the previously hidden and presumed retired organization of ROOT was savage. He spared no life, killing shinobi that were to remain innocent in the eye of the public, although only those the Hokage had trusted knew of their true alliances. Traitors to Konoha that would be immortalized as martyrs for their ordered deaths; truly, it was not the worst way for scum like them to go.

Even the Hokage had been left somewhat traumatized by the violence the young Inuzuka demonstrated as he slaughtered the traitors. But, as the man reminded himself, this was simply for the best. The innocence of the Inuzuka was already compromised, it would only be a matter of time before he completely lost it, and, really, it was only for the best for him to forget about his young age. The organization he was to infiltrate did not ask for young and bright eyed defectors, after all. It asked for heartless murderers that felt nothing for their homes; nothing for their fellow humans.

The night ROOT was obliterated; the loud, heartbreaking, _positively forlorn_ howls of the Inuzuka Clan could be heard throughout the Land of Fire. No villager was able to sleep, much too stricken by the sadness within those howls to feel at peace.

No one was able to sleep the night the Hokage's agent began his mission.

~/~

Inuzuka partners were never supposed to be separated. The bond between an Inuzuka human and their dog (or dogs if they were chosen by more than one animal) was sacred. Both parties needed one another to live, for their relationship was one of the soul, not just of friendship. In essence, their souls were intertwined in a manner that made them two halves of a whole- one could not function perfectly without the other. When an Inuzuka dog lost its partner, it was only natural for the animal to follow into the final adventure; death. Some Inuzuka were able to survive the loss of their first partner, some even managed to acquire new ones, but it was also customary for the human to give up once his second half had been lost.

The Inuzuka believed that in the afterlife, all Inuzuka would eventually be reunited with all partners they had worked with throughout their lives (be it one, two, or more) and they would live out the rest of eternity in a wonderful community that feasted every night, battled every day, and howled at the moon in perfect unity.

For the infiltration mission, one of the greatest affronts onto the Inuzuka beliefs was needed. Partners were forcefully separated, human and dog torn apart for the first time in their lives. For the first time in the collective memory of the Inuzuka Clan, they willingly broke apart two partners. And the consequences were almost fatal.

The first nights had been horrible. The wailing of the partners was loud enough to shatter the heart of any Inuzuka that heard. And if one asked around Konoha, there had been some civilians that heard the howls of grief as well, and they had described the noise as "The saddest thing I've ever heard."

The mission required _one_ member of the Inuzuka Clan. And to ensure the safety of the lesser required party, the Hokage decided that it would only be for the best to separate the partners.

So the human and the dog had been separated. One would be forced to learn quickly so he could begin his mission, the other would be forced to stay his training and mourn over the loss of his other half.

Like the Clan Head had worried, the first few days had been worrisome. Neither partner had taken well to not having their other half with them. They had even been visited by death's dangerous tendrils at one point. But the Inuzuka had assigned its best healers to both parties. And, even though the healers had been left so traumatized that they had vowed to never allow any other Inuzuka partnership to ever be broken again, they had managed to keep both partners alive.

Neither Inuzuka was the same after this; they were children forced to grow up before their time- it was a fact that was sick and spoke of the pitiful state the world found itself in. But the need to keep the Village safe was greater than the need to keep children innocent.

Fulfilling one's duty to their Clan and Village was supposed to be a great honor, after all.

~/~

When he first met with the Organization, he was met with looks of skepticism and bewilderment. None of them could believe a being as young and small as him had been able to commit the massacre that had rocked the Land of Fire.

One of them had even snorted and ridiculed him.

But when he had showed them his skills; forced one of them onto his knees in barely the blink of an eye; they had begun to take him as seriously as he had deserved.

He had not been admitted into the Organization immediately, of course. He'd been forced onto all sorts of dangerous missions to prove that he was truly the kind of warrior the Akatsuki needed to complete their ranks. Most had been missions that only Jounin level shinobi would have been able to complete. All had been the kind that they had expected him to die in. But the Inuzuka were perseverant and never gave up until a job was done.

He'd been inducted into the Akatsuki in less than a year.

The cloak given to him was much smaller than those worn by the other members; but that was to be expected, they were fully grown shinobi and he was a mere _child_ \- a _pup_ \- at the time. His tiny stature compared to the rest of them had been one of the many reasons why they had not taken him seriously at first.

The night he was given his cloak, the Inuzuka skulked into the forest under the cover of night. He looked for the most isolated spot he could find, far away from the prying ears of the members of the Organization he had joined. And once he was sure he was completely away from ear shot, he howled into the night.

Loud, proud, and promising were his howls.

He had infiltrated the Organization. And he would _not_ fail in his mission.

~/~

Accompanying Kisame into Konoha had been difficult. Years had passed since he had last been in the home he had (supposedly; publically) forsaken. But time had done nothing to heal the wounds he had wrought upon himself when he left.

As he walked alongside the behemoth from the Mist, the Inuzuka could not help but wonder how his partner had grown. Would he have a new partner now? Would he have grown enough with that partner to have been put onto a genin team? Or would he have forsaken the warrior's way they had once promised to journey together? Would he be working in another field if he didn't try and become part of the shinobi that his Clan was famed for?

The woman that had met them carried the faint smell of his old partner. And that had been enough of an assurance to let him know that his partner had managed to move on after they had been forced to separate.

"Is that… Is that a _dog_?"

Akamaru growled to play the part of the dangerous mutt he was supposed to be. The man with the cigarette between his lips had his eyes open wide, truly stupefied at the sight he must have been.

"Don't underestimate him." Kisame's smirk was evident even in his voice, "Orochimaru's greatest mistake was doubting the mutt's skill set."

With a huff of amusement, Akamaru rejoiced in the reminder of the snake he had forced onto its slimy knees. But he soon resumed in his glowering at the humans that were in their way.

They had a mission they needed to complete. And these two were in the way.

Akamaru took no joy in defeating them. But he made sure to do so in the swiftest, least suspicious way he could.

By the time Kisame had finished knocking the man around, Akamaru had been seated, panting and waiting patiently as the woman's head poked just barely out from the ground beneath him.

"Good dog."

Akamaru barked at him, growling in a threatening manner, for he was _nothing_ like a good boy. But his Akatsuki assigned partner merely chuckled and sheathed his sword.

"Let's go. We've got a job to complete."

The pup huffed but still agreed. They had work they needed to finish.

With his cloak billowing in the wind, the pup calmly followed after the Mist traitor.

Faintly, he smelled his old partner's scent and sadness overcame him.

Allowing one quick howl to leave him, Akamaru alerted the whole of the Inuzuka Clan that he was alright and making strides in his work. The lack of a response let him know that they were proud of him, although heartbroken that he still was not able to return to his home.

He would have loved to hear his family's voice again, if only for a moment. But Akamaru knew that Kisame would begin to suspect something if howling began to fill up the village, just like the rest of his Clan must have known. Their silence was sad, but understandable.

Akamaru vowed then that he would tear the Akatsuki down from the inside (he had already managed to do so by forcing the members to begin to doubt Orochimaru's true intentions, and was already working on turning the minds of the members against the strange puppet master from Sunagakure). And once he was victorious in the destruction of the dangerous Organization, he would return to his Clan and live out the rest of his days with them, making up for the time he had lost by following his old partner everywhere he went for as long as he lived.

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So? What'd you think? Did I do a good job of it? Please review.


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